Press Advisory
For Immediate Release - April 3, 2001
Contact: Betsy Leondar-Wright
(617) 423-2148 x13

Critics of House Estate Tax Bill Speak Out

With estate tax repeal slated to come to the House floor tomorrow, April 4, two new developments in the debate came under fire today.

First, the bill approved by the Ways and Means Committee last week would delay full repeal until 2011 in order to conceal the budget-busting nature of the bill, which was revealed last week by the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

Available to critique this maneuver is CHUCK COLLINS, co-director of United for a Fair Economy, co-author of "Economic Apartheid in America," and convenor of Responsible Wealth's "Call to Preserve the Estate Tax," now signed by over 750 wealthy people.

"The House estate tax bill is a shameful and irresponsible action. They have purposefully hidden the real costs of repealing the estate tax, putting ideology ahead of fiscal responsibility. Big campaign contributors get a windfall at the expense of America's fiscal health."

Second, Robert L. Johnson, chief executive of Black Entertainment Television, organized a group of African-American business executives to advocate estate tax repeal as a cure for the racial wealth gap.

An alternative view of the causes of and solutions to the racial wealth gap is advanced by DALTON CONLEY, Director of the Center for Advanced Social Science Research at New York University, author of "Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America." He can be reached at (212) 998 7580 or dalton.conley@nyu.edu.

"The number of African American millionaires who would benefit from estate tax repeal is infinitesimally small. Rather, repeal would provide a windfall for the wealthiest whites in America and would only exacerbate the black-white ‘equity inequity.’ If legislators really want to promote savings and equal opportunity for blacks and whites, there are better policy options that would help the majority of African Americans who have low net worth. Millionaires don't need any more incentives to save; poor folks do."